Monday, November 24, 2008

Burning Through the Midnight M&Ms

It's 10:30 pm, I'm at work, and I'm not sure when I'll be able to go home. I'd complain about this fact except that it makes me feel like a real lawyer and I'm dorky enough to get a kick out of that. I also have a caffeine free diet coke and pile of m&ms on my desk, so really, it could be worse.

I did get to see the Landon. I went home at 5:30 and spent two hours eating graham crackers (I know, parenting fail, but it's all he wanted and then I decided I wanted some too and so that's the healthy, wholesome dinner we shared this evening- he eats very well at daycare, I promise), banging spatulas on various household objects, and reading Brown Bear Brown Bear on repeat while he did some kind of interpretive dance to the words (he's an artist, what can I say). The 26 lb. ball of pure joy he has been for the past several weeks deserve so many posts but I never have time to write them. I put his snuggly self to bed at 7:30, kissed JP goodbye for the second time today, and headed back to my office.

There's mountains of paper all over my desk, my extra chair, and the floor- I walked in to this morning hoping it wasn't as bad as I remembered from Thursday afternoon when I abandoned everything to run to the airport. Unfortunately, I think it might be worse. The good news is that I genuinely like what I'm doing. I don't think I love it, not yet anyway, but I'm not unhappy, I like the people I work with, and I make enough to support my family, pay off my loans, and buy Landon a play kitchen. I'm challenged by the work I'm doing on this deal and I've developed a small crush on the person who organized the virtual data room for the other side- such organization and comprehensiveness I thought only existed in my dreams. And of course, there's also the m&ms- they always make burning the midnight oil a more enjoyable experience.

8 comments:

  1. sweet. good luck! and cool that you read failblog. isnt that site hilarious?

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  2. 10:30? I hope you get to go home soon. I'm glad that you got to see Landon for a little bit. And don't worry about the graham crackers. Its not like you are feeding him chicken nuggets off the floor. I mean, who would do that?

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  3. You do do the balance thing, lady. Rushing home for two hours with the little one and then back to work isn't something I would have ever thought of, let alone attempted. Makes me right proud of ya, it does!

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  4. Oh man, I hope you can go home soon too. But I'm glad you enjoy what you do and that you got to go home for a little bit. It reminds me of the days when Ryan was finishing his PhD and would come home for dinner, put Charlie to bed, then go right back to the lab. We had a deal that he would call me at midnight to check in no matter what. I never knew what time he came home, but he always did at some point.

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  5. I know what you mean about feeling like a real lawyer when you have to work those long nights... Complaining about pulling all-nighters is really part complaining and part bragging. It's not like you are happy about spending a night away from home, but there is something thrilling about working late on a closing or other important aspect of a deal with a bunch of other brilliant people to make it happen.

    I hope you get enough done this week to enjoy Thanksgiving a little bit!

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  6. LL - are you the only one at the office when you work late like that? Or, this time, anyway?

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  7. The senior associate I'm working with has the office right next to me and she was still here after I left at 11:30. Our office has multiple floors so I usually don't know who else is around. I did scare the crap out of a member of our cleaning crew when eh walked in my office with a vaccum very much expecting it to be empty!

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  8. I love that Landon had graham crackers for dinner. Cora and I shared a happy meal the other night for dinner, nutritious!

    The work sounds great, even if the volume sucks. But way to be dedicated!

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